Sensata employees in Freeport reach out to Mitt Romney for help in saving their jobs

Sensata Technologies employees in Freeport, Ill., make a plea to presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, to visit Freeport and save their jobs. Romney is co-founder and was CEO of Sensata’s parent company, Bain Capital. (Photo provided)

Online Staff Report

FREEPORT, Ill. — Employees at Freeport’s Sensata Technologies plant are reaching out to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, in attempts to save their jobs.

The Massachusetts-based Sensata Technologies has announced it plans to close the Freeport plant and outsource more than 150 jobs to China.

Sensata is owned by Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm co-founded by Romney in 1984. Romney served as CEO of the company from 1984 until 2002, according to SEC filings.

Following is a letter sent to Romney by 58 employees of Sensata’s Freeport plant. The Rock River Times obtained the letter from 33-year Sensata employee Cheryl Randecker, who was one of the 58 who signed the letter.

Open Letter to Mitt Romney

Dear Gov. Romney,

We work at Sensata Technologies in Freeport, Illinois — a company owned by Bain Capital, which you started, ran, and still profit from.

Our jobs are about to be outsourced to China. More than 150 of us will lose our jobs — and some of us have worked here for over 40 years. The worst indignity is that many of us are being asked to train the Chinese workers who are taking our jobs.

It’s not right that our good American jobs are being sent to China. It’s not right that you stand to get even richer off of our loss and pain.

We are not going down without a fight. We join together today to call on you to save our jobs.

We know that you can take action to stop the offshoring of our jobs. You are running for President, promising to create good jobs. You can start keeping that promise today, by stepping in and saving our jobs.

We are standing strong together, and our numbers are growing. We are reaching out to our community and to the American people. Together, we will make our voices heard.

We are standing up not just for ourselves, but for all the working people who have had their jobs outsourced or offshored. We are standing up for everyone who is struggling to find a good job in America.

Please consider our appeal and take a real stand for the good jobs we all need by stepping in and stopping our jobs from being sent to China.

(Click here to view a PDF of the letter, which includes the employees’ signatures.)

The Freeport City Council will vote Monday, July 16, on a resolution to call on Romney to visit Freeport and help save the employees’ jobs.

U.S. Reps. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., and Bobby Schilling, R-Ill., sent a letter to the company’s CEO, Thomas Wroe Jr., July 6 urging him to keep the jobs in Freeport. Click here to read about the letter.

One Comment

Jan

September 20, 2012 at 11:58 am

Romney won’t come. He doesn’t give a damn about the people hurt by his business practices. He cares only about the 1% who can send their money to the Cayman Islands and live lavish lives while millions in this country live lives of desperation. But hey, what does that matter to Mitt and the people with whom he identifies. Nothing.